The National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) offers a collaborative network for Australian organisations to build and implement effective road safety strategies in the workplace.

The program offers organisations the resources to improve road safety that best fit their individual operations and, at the same time, improve business productivity through less time and money lost through safety incidents.

The program is not a prescriptive approach but aims to complement existing safety legislation by providing access to a ‘knowledge bank’ from a diverse network of organisations to given them the resources to implement their own initiatives. The tools will help make the business case for organisations shifting their safety focus from 'having' to safety to secure a contract to 'wanting' to because it is simply good business.

Mega projects major road safety opportunity – just add leadership…

Did you know the average Australian truck is 15 years old? And that more than 40 per cent of our truck fleet was manufactured before 2003?

Should these numbers be a concern?

Well, yes. Newer trucks come with greater safety technology and lower emissions, reducing the risk to the community they operate within. Worse still, however, is that these older trucks are often the ‘work horses’ for many of the mega building projects we’re seeing in the hearts of our cities.

These mega projects – be it airport, rail, new freeway or tunnel – rely on trucks. So, these projects could, as part of their contract requirements, stipulate that trucks working on the projects meet minimum age and safety standards. They can even stipulate driver competency levels and vehicle journey management.

But are we using this opportunity to really push for road safety improvements?

Source: Deloitte Access Economics

Playing catch-up

Have a look at the next Woolworths or Coles branded truck you see on the road. Only the latest and newest trucks are contracted to move their goods. The reason? Coles and Woolworths require it in their contracts, because they understand that their business depends on protecting their brand.

But as with all road safety, it is about sharing the responsibility. Everyone needs to do their part. So how many projects receiving government funding that create a transport task stipulate road safety requirements in its contracts?

It can be done, and has been, both in Australia and internationally. NRSPP has been engaging with Sydney Metro and Melbourne Metro, for example. Sydney Metro, in particular, is willing to share its approach to help other projects.

There are, of course, differences in the Australian and UK heavy vehicle transport systems. However, the evidence from the UK experience shows this approach is worth pursuing.

The glaring question is when will government seek to include road safety as part of contractual requirements in major infrastructure projects which it funds? Will a leader emerge similar to the Mayor of London? TfL viewed establishing CLOCS as a small investment in reducing risk to the community. While we wait to mandate these standards, Australian lives continue to be put at risk.

I’m curious to know the source of the data that determines the average age of Australian trucks is 15 years.

As a truck magazine journalist and also using my observations while regularly driving on the highways, it seems to be a relative rarity to see prime movers that are 15 years old.

I am wondering whether the statistics take in every truck of every size right across Australia, including on farms which is where many old trucks reside.

If so, I think this is a bit misleading because a farm truck obviously has much less impact on road safety than a B-double prime mover regularly plying the highways.

When the general public thinks of trucks and road safety inevitably the B-double comes first to mind. So perhaps we should update this average age statistic to more accurately reflect the average age of the vehicles that are front and centre in the public’s mind concerning road safety.